2009: Will the Bush card work?

vs. George Bush for governor of New Jersey? (Corzine wishes.) Not only is the vulnerable Corzine trying to align himself -- closely -- with the sitting president in this blue state, but he is also trying to tie his opponent Chris Christie to George W. Bush. Corzine released a new campaign ad, "Pioneer," which "highlights Christie's past as a fundraiser" for the past president. Bush

appointed Christie as a U.S. Attorney.

VIRGINIA: As Creigh Deeds continues his nine-day tour through "Deeds Country" -- the nickname he's given a section of rural southwest Virginia -- one thing is clear: "it apparently isn't Obama Country." In many of the small towns Deeds is visiting, "Obama did not break 35 percent of the vote." Like the campaigns of Virginia Democrats like Tim Kaine and Jim Webb, Obama won Virginia "because he won big in the state's suburban areas." It's a delicate balance for Deeds. When he ran for governor, he underperformed Tim Kaine in Northern Virginia, and he needs the president -- who campaigns for him today -- to pump up turnout in the most populous part of the state. Deeds' rural Virginia strategy is a good way to "force Republican Bob McDonnell to spend resources in parts of the state he might have considered safe, according to the Deeds campaign.

Just as Deeds

is trying to "deflect [McDonnell's] effort to portray him as a more liberal, national-style Democrat," McDonnell is "taking the Deeds tack" on whether he supports the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

"If McDonnell comes out for Sotomayor, he risks angering conservatives in his own party." But "Virginia has a fast-growing Hispanic population, especially in rich-vote Northern Virginia, so McDonnell is also hesitant" to flat-out oppose her nomination.

Look out, the ol' Macker is back. Terry McAuliffe, who hasn't made much political news since losing to Creigh Deeds in the June 9 gubernatorial primary, sent out an e-mail to supporters yesterday "encouraging people to sign a Deeds petition calling on Republican Bob McDonnell to apologize for Virginia GOP chairman Pat Mullins' remark that some college students in Wise County 'preferred welfare to work.'" The next question: "Is McAuliffe making fundraising calls to his donors on Deeds' behalf?"